Philippines struggles to win back Chinese tourists as regional rivals surge

The Philippines is lagging behind its Southeast Asian peers in winning back Chinese tourists, with arrivals still only a fraction of pre-pandemic levels, according to new regional research. Just over 312,000 Chinese tourists visited the Philippines in 2024, equivalent to about 18 per cent of 2019’s visitor numbers, the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (Amro) said in a publication released on Thursday. Chinese visitors accounted for only 5 per cent of the country’s international tourist...